7 - Optimization Models in Context

Abstract

Anthropologists working with hunter-gatherer societies have discovered formal optimization models (Keene 1979; Reidhead 1980; Winterhaider and Smith 1981). Such models have been used extensively in other fields, especially economics, ecology, operations research, and anthropological studies of development, and have proved quite valuable in stimulating research. Before these models proliferate in the hunter–gather literature, however, it might be wise to examine their assumptions and interpretations, particularly in light of the growing dissatisfaction with their use in these other fields (Barlett 1980; Gladwin 1975; Johnson 1980; Keen 1977; Maynard Smith 1978; Pyke et al. 1977; Rapport and Turner 1977; Winter 1975).